Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

The Science of Green Microbes

Hanford Site

A ribbon of blacktop lined with telephone poles is the only human signature for 10 miles beyond the security checkpoint at the Hanford Site in the high plains desert of southeastern Washington. The gently rolling hills are stark, an uninterrupted sprawl of sagebrush and brown cheatgrass, until the harsh geometric silhouettes of entombed nuclear reactors begin to punctuate the landscape. The once prolific nuclear production site has the aura of an Old West ghost town, except for the incongruous presence of bulldozers, trucks and workers in hazmat suits. Today, Hanford is the site of the ... Read More

Garbage In, Garbage Out Can Be Overcome

Forget about the bug in your soup. Is there an anti-seizure drug in your coffee? An antibiotic in your lemonade? A hormone in your popsicle? Such concerns arose from a recent survey by the Associated Press that found trace levels of pharmaceuticals in many of the nation’s water supplies. The survey showed that many communities aren’t testing for the presence of drugs in drinking water, and those that do often fail to report the traces of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (collectively referred to as PPCPs) found. The furor surrounding the survey’s release prompted many water ... Read More

I’ll Have a Glass of What You Had Yesterday

Water is used over and over again. Karl Linden, an engineering professor at the University of Colorado, would like the public to understand how trace elements of the more than 3 billion prescriptions Americans fill every year can be found in the nation's drinking water. "The water in the Mississippi is used, reused, treated and served as drinking water many times before it reaches the delta at New Orleans," Linden said. Water from wastewater treatment facilities is poured back into rivers; effluent from agricultural operations feeds streams; manure used to fertilize fields may find ... Read More

Turning a New Leafy Green

The Symptoms: In August 2006, a rare and potent strain of Escherichia coli, O157:H7, began spreading across 26 states and into Canada, sickening more than 200 people during a six-week span. Many of the victims suffered debilitating kidney damage, and the bacterium claimed the lives of two elderly women and a child. Using a DNA-fingerprinting system, epidemiologists at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention matched bacteria in stool samples of hospitalized patients with pathogens in specific bags of "ready to eat" Dole spinach. The infected greens had been processed during a ... Read More